Electronic Cigarettes: Everything You Need to Know About Vapes and Vaping

Author Jeffrey Ulrich
14.12.2016. | 11:25

What is an Electronic Cigarette

An electronic cigarette is a handheld electronic device that turns a flavored liquid (often containing nicotine) into vapor which can be inhaled. These devices are often called vaporizers and using an e-cig is called vaping.

Unlike tobacco cigarettes, there have been no serious adverse effects reported in vaping trials. Since the invention of the modern e-cigarette vaping has become popular among people trying to reduce or quit smoking tobacco products. To see some of the best vapes check out the Chinavasion Vape Shop.

How do Vapes and Vaporizers Work

Vaporizers, electronic cigarettes, and vape pens use e-liquid or ejuice which is essential propylene glycerol (PG) or vegetable glycerin, (VG), water, flavorings and often nicotine, although there are a number of eliquids that are nicotine free. Many of these chemicals are the same that are used to add flavorings to our food and in which case is FDA approved. This liquid is heated by a coil and turned into a vapor which is then inhaled. The power is provided by a battery pack in the base, mod or handle of the vaporizer.

Are E-Cigs Safe?

In 2015 the Public health England (PHE), an executive agency of the department of health in the UK published a joint statement along with 12 other UK medical bodies stating “e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking. One in 2 lifelong smokers dies from their addiction. All of the evidence suggests that the health risks posed by e-cigarettes are relatively small by comparison but we must continue to study the long-term effects.”

In 2016 the FDA echoed this information stating that e-cigarettes are “likely less hazardous for an individual user than continued smoking of traditional cigarettes”, and the American Heart Association believes that “e-cigarette aerosol is much less toxic than cigarette smoke.” So it is generally accepted that e-cigarettes are significantly better than cigarettes and indeed a key tool for those trying to quit smoking and help improve cessation rates.

Cigarettes Smoke contains over 4000 chemicals including Cyanide, Formaldehyde, Arsenic, and lead. At least 40 of these chemicals are cancer causing carcinogens. Tobaccos Smoke also contains Tar which is bad for the lungs and respiratory system. E-liquid contains just 4 chemicals: Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin, Nicotine, and Flavoring.

How big is the E-Cig Market

The number of e-cigarettes sold every year has been increasing rapidly since 2003 and as of 2014, there were over 466 different e-cig brands. That same year the worldwide sales were about $7 billion with between 30 and 50% of those sales being online transactions.

A study commissioned by BAT looked at Italy, France, Germany, Poland, U.K, Russia, and South Korea which together make up about 75% of the vaping market, excluding the USA and China. The report carried out by Ernst & Young (EY) showed an 86% increase in the market between 2013 and 2015 with the UK and France being the two countries hosting the largest population of vapors, “with 4% and 3.5% of the population respectively”. A separate report by Action on Smoking Health(ASH) confirms this figure and points to 2.8 million adults in Great Britain currently using vaporizers having grown from 700,000 in 2012.

In conclusion, the report expects that for 2019 the market for e-cigarettes will be more than 20 billion Euros.

A recent report from the Center for Diseases Control (CDC) found that 12.6% of adults had tried an e-cigarette with more regular vapers being those who were current or former cigarette smokers. Also more than half of current cigarette smokers who had tried to quit in the past year had tried e-cigs and just over 20% were current e-cigarette users. The same report showed that 3.7 % of adult Americans used electronic cigarettes or vaping products on a regular basis which equates to more than 9 million adults.

A cost comparison of smoking versus vaping

Tobacco is expensive. If you smoke Tobacco cigarettes you will be spending ten or twenty times more than using a vape or e-cigarette product, especially in the USA, Australia or Western Europe where tobacco products are heavily taxed. E-cigarettes, e-liquid, and other vaping products have largely avoided this tax and this is one of the main motivators for switching to them from smoking.

Alternatively, you can enjoy the same nicotine with vaping and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. A good vape can be bought for around $50, its more than capable of lasting a full year and while it’s easy to spend much more if you’re on a budget $50 is ample.

If you smoked a pack of cigarettes a day (average price $8 USD) then that would cost you $2920 a year. This may be cheaper or more expensive depending on where you live and the taxation. If you live in New York you or London could expect this to be almost double but likewise in places with lower taxes and cheaper cigarettes like West Virginia, it could be significantly less.

If you vaped on average 4 ml a day (most vapers vape less than this) you would need 1460 ml a year. The vape liquid normally comes in 30ml bottles so that is 49 bottles of ejuice you would require. We can take a price of $20 per bottle, however, there are many brands and companies where you can get ejuice for as little as half this amount. This works out as $980 on ejuice. add to that a vaporizer, let us say $100. Then you need coils for a year, the length of time a coil will last depends on how much you vape, what Ohm resistance you use, and also the type of eliquid you vape. But let us say on average coils will last 2 weeks. Coils also vary in cost but we will take an average price of $5 per coil. So coils will cost about $130 for the year.

So we can compare these figures and see that vaping will cost on average about $1210 per year whereas smoking cigarettes will cost on average $2920 a year that is more than twice as much.